Inria's ambition is to work with its partners to build France's scientific, technological and industrial leadership in the European dynamic and strengthen our digital sovereignty.

1. Activity
Report 2019

2. STRATEGY 03
Editorial - Bruno Sportisse
Inria's CEO 03
8 Research Centres in France 04
Key Figures 04
The COP: an ambition for 2023… and beyond 05
How we support public policy: AI Plan 06
RESEARCH 07
Editorial - Jean-Frédéric Gerbeau
Deputy CEO for Science 07
Inria Awards 2019 08
One step closer to the quantum computer 11
Post-quantum cryptography 11
The Class’Code project 12
1 scientist - 1 class, chiche ! 12
INNOVATION 13
Editorial - François Cuny
Deputy CEO for Innovation 13
Inria Startup Studio 14
Startup Wattson Elements 15
Naval Group/Inria: a strategic partnership
for the defence industry 16
OUR ETHICS 17
Editorial - Guillaume Prunier
Deputy CEO for Administration 17
A European Label in HR strategy 18
Disability policy 18
Inria Foundation 19
FINANCIAL REPORT 20
Summary

3. Inria has been spearheading digital research for over 50 years. And what are its ambitions
now? To work with its partners to make France a scientific, technological and industrial
leader within the European dynamics and to strengthen our digital sovereignty.
STRATEGY
Bruno Sportisse
Inria's CEO
our ambitions: together with our partners, we wish to
achieve scientific, technological and industrial leadership
in the digital sector and to strengthen our digital
sovereignty through research and innovation!
This ambition for 2023 lays the path for our future.
Our institute must be a place where risky scientific work
is done on core digital projects, covering areas ranging
from cybersecurity to quantum computer science.
It must also be capable of providing answers, along with
other actors and drawing on our digital skills, to the great
challenges our society faces in health, energy, sustainable
development and education.
It must think about the economic impact it can have
by irrigating our industrial companies and through
bilateral partnerships, the creation of startups or the
dissemination of software. And, more than ever, we must
support public policies: coordination of the research
component of the AI Plan, partnerships in the Security-
Defence sphere, actions in schools - there is no shortage
of examples. Finally, we are firmly committed to the
development of the major university research sites.
Continuing to be bold and to break new ground, that is
what should be the motivation behind all that we do,
in 2020 and beyond. We must all work together to make
sure we live up to the challenge set for 2023 and the
trust put in us by the State.
2019 confirmed Inria's vitality, as illustrated by the 4 ERC
grants and the prestigious prizes won by our scientists.
And the setting up of Inria Startup Studio with Bpifrance
has laid the foundations for the Institute to scale up its
support for the creation of startups: 25 projects in 2019
(double the number of the year before!).
Inria is an agile institute which has the culture of
impact-focused partnership projects in its blood.
The partnership it has formed with Naval Group, for
example, reflects its support for strategic sectors of the
French industrial ecosystems and has set Inria on a new
path, that of forming joint teams with companies.
The partnership with the Ministry of Education and
Youth for the "1 scientist-1 class” project positions us as
a driving force in public research seeking to give high
school students, girls especially, a taste for science
and technology.
2019 also saw some organisational changes, the most of
which was the creation of a single Information Systems
Department (DSI): Inria has a duty to set an example
with its own digital transformation, which remains to be
done. With the launch of a new website, the Institute has
also sought to update its image: more coherent, impact-
focused, at the heart of an ecosystem of partners.
Finally, 2019 enabled us to ratify our Objectives and
Performance Contract (COP) for 2019-2023 and to
embark upon a new strategic cycle. We are clear about
03

4. 04
Paris
Inria Research Centres
Local sites
Strasbourg
Pau
Lannion
Nantes
Montpellier
Lyon
59ERC
4350collaborators
(2500 Inria's
employees)
170startups
240million euros
budget, 25% of which
is self-funded
1420PhD researchers
200project teams
8 Research
Centres
in France
The Activity Observatory builds dynamic dashboards with the objective of readability, interaction and consultation in one click.
They present in a clear and structured manner the indicators linked to the institutional and contractual objectives of COP 2019-2023.

5. 05
The COP: an ambition
for 2023…and beyond
2019 was marked by the State's approval of our Inria Objectives and Performance Contract
(COP), which is translated in concrete terms into our Ambition Inria 2023 plan. This sets out the
Institute's priorities, aims to reassert its unique organisational model and to boost its impact
in all areas, from research to innovation.
Clearly identified milestones
To measure Inria’s progress in each
of these strategic areas, a series of
indicators and operational milestones
(over thirty of them) have been
created. For example, by June 2020,
the Institute will develop a framework
for the qualitative analysis of its
scientific impact since the number of
publications is no longer an indicator
of the Institute's impact. Inria will
continue to roll out the startup
development support scheme to all
its sites, with Inria Startup Studio. The
scenarios for the creation of a research
centre in Lyon will be presented
in 2020 and the satellite units in
Montpellier and Strasbourg be will
strengthened as part of a strategic
vision shared with the partners of each
of these sites.
The Ambition Inria 2023
plan thus defines the steps to be
followed to give Inria and
its original model its rightful
place in the French research and
innovation ecosystem.
A new strategic cycle has begun for Inria, with the approval
of its Objectives and Performance Contract (COP) for 2019-2023.
FIVE STRATEGIC AREAS
In return for the State's support, Inria has undertaken to develop
five major areas:
1 TO MAINTAIN SCIENTIFIC EXCELLENCE
accepting the need for risk-taking in the research subjects selected, making
informed choices and aiming to extend its international reach.
2 TO REINFORCE THE INSTITUTE'S ECONOMIC IMPACT
in particular by developing bilateral agreements with economic actors
and through increased support for the creation of tech startups.
3 TO DEVELOP OUR CONTRIBUTION TO PUBLIC POLICY
in particular with the two ministries we depend on.
4 TO SERVE THE DEVELOPMENT OF MAJOR
WORLD-LEVEL UNIVERSITY
research sites through a new site policy.
5 TO TRANSFORM AND CREATE AN EFFECTIVE
serene organisation capable of carrying through this ambition.

6. are able to finance research chairs
and are expected to contribute to
strengthening training. Inria is
involved in three of these projects.
Finally, the Institute is actively
involved in the Global Partnership
for AI, a multi-lateral initiative
to build the IPAI (International
Panel on Artificial Intelligence).
The Institute will be responsible
for the construction of one
of the two Centres of expertise on
AI, a task entrusted to it by the
French President on the occasion
of the Global Forum for Artificial
Intelligence at the end of
October 2019.
06
Inria is mobilising its expertise
and leveraging its different
methods of action to support the
national research and innovation
strategy in this area.
Inria: a triple presence
The heart of what Inria does, of course,
consists of the activities of the
Institute's 200 project teams, who
are all working in one way or another
in this field defined by the close
coupling of data and algorithms.
Based on this research excellence, one
of Inria's major challenges is to foster
the creation of tech startups and the
construction of structural partnerships
with companies embarking on their
digital transformation.
Another channel for the Institute's
actions is the national artificial
intelligence programme AI for
Humanity, for which Inria is
coordinating the scientific component
In 2020, Artificial Intelligence is just the latest wave in digital technology, which rests
on the maturity of algorithms (which closely ties together digital simulation, statistical
data processing and sometimes embedded systems), data availability, often big data and
computational capacities. It is accelerating digital transformation in every field:
science, the economy and society.
with the aim of making France one of
the world leaders in the digital field.
One of the programme's flagship
actions has been the setting up
of four consortia of actors, known
as Interdisciplinary Institutes for
Artificial Intelligence (3IA), which are
part of the drive to develop major
university research sites and are
helping to give greater visibility to the
French digital ecosystem:
MIAI@Grenoble-Alpes (Multidisciplinary
Institute in Artificial Intelligence),
which is central to the dynamics of
the University of Grenoble-Alpes,
3IA Côte d'Azur, a vital part of the
University of Côte d’Azur, PRAIRIE
(PaRis Artificial Intelligence Research
InstitutE) in Paris (with Paris Sciences
et Lettres and the University of Paris,
in particular), and ANITI (Artificial
and Natural Intelligence Toulouse
Institute), which is sponsored by
the Federal University of Toulouse
Midi-Pyrénées. Funded for four
years, in particular these projects
How we support
public policy: AI

7. 07
2019 will go down as a successful year for our cryptology teams. In the post-quantum
field, after two rounds in the selection process in the worldwide competition
organised by the National Institute of Standards and Technology, over a quarter
of the projects selected come from Inria teams. We will come back to that in the
pages that follow. In the field of asymmetric cryptography, the Caramba joint project
team contributed a new record for RSA key factorisation and discrete logarithm
computation. Last but not least, the Inria-French Academy of Science Young
Researcher Prize rewarded María Naya-Plasencia's work on symmetric cryptanalysis
with quantum algorithms.
RESEARCH
Jean-Frédéric Gerbeau
Deputy CEO for Science
the project proposed and comparable to those of an
ANR Young Researcher project, whilst covering a wide
range of very varied fields: core issues in IT and applied
mathematics (for example image and video compression
algorithms, algorithms combining digital simulation and
machine learning) or societal subjects (in particular in
conjunction with legal experts for privacy issues or on
search engine bias), and multidisciplinary subjects - in
sustainable agriculture and biodiversity or in biology
and medicine, with a project on artificial blood, or on
the diagnosis of mental illness at the interface between
psychiatry, linguistics and formal semantics. Not all of
these subjects will necessarily be carried through to
their conclusion, and that is normal, but they do bear
witness to the remarkable vitality and creativity of our
researchers, and they may well be preparing themes the
Institute will focus on in the future.
Another cause for satisfaction is the Institute's place
in the world machine learning rankings, which was
already excellent in 2018 and was confirmed in 2019.
A recent study based on articles accepted at two
flagship conferences, ICML and NeurIPS, has only three
institutions in continental Europe in the world's Top 20
academic institutions: Inria is second, just behind ETHZ
(Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich), and is
the only institution in the European Union.
In research promotion, the selection of 16 exploratory
actions in 2019 illustrates the Institute's desire to
support creativity and scientific risk-taking. We believe
that with long-term research, research on disruptive
subjects is the privilege and a requirement of public
research. These 16 exploratory actions follow a very
flexible format, with resources being adapted to
07

8. Inria Awards 2019
Vincent Hayward
The Inria - French Académie des sciences Grand Prize
A specialist in robotics, Vincent Hayward, a professor at Sorbonne Université, has been a
pioneer in the field of haptic perception since the early 1990s. The aim of his research is to
identify methods for reproducing the sense of touch in order to create innovative sensory
stimulation systems and to enhance our theoretical knowledge of what is an often
overlooked sense.
Aside from being a researcher, Hayward is also an entrepreneur, with 38 patents and four
startups to his name. The most recent of these, the Paris-based Actronika, is developing a
technological platform compatible for use with human-machine interfaces in the automotive
industry, in medical devices, in virtual and augmented reality, in mobile phones and in
video games.
Maria Naya-Plesancia
The Inria - French Académie des sciences
Young Researcher Award
Researcher in the Secret project team of the Inria Paris research centre,
María Naya-Plasencia specialises in the security of cryptographic algorithms. Her
work has led to a new field of research: symmetric cryptography (where the same
key is used to encrypt and decrypt information) in a post-quantum world (studying
resistance to attackers with quantum capabilities).
Her research into different types of attacks has been precious in furthering our
understanding of the security of algorithms. In order to develop reliable systems,
Maria looks to identify any potential weaknesses, and has successfully broken a
whole host of primitives put forward in the relevant literature and in standardisation
competitions. She has also proposed secure new cryptographic algorithms,
including Quark, Kreyvium and Saturnin.
08
The Inria Awards honour major contributions in digital sciences
and technologies, made by scientists whether or not they are part
of Inria project teams.

9. Other scientific awards and honours
The scikit-learn initiative
The Inria - French Académie des sciences - Dassault Systèmes Award
Loïc Estève, Alexandre Gramfort, Olivier Grisel, Bertrand Thirion and Gaël Varoquaux, of the Parietal project team, a
joint venture between Inria and the CEA at the Inria Saclay Île-de-France research centre, are developing the software
scikit-learn, third most-used machine learning software in the world. Written in Python programming language, it
was designed to make it easier for non-specialists to tackle the machine learning problems forming the basis of the
artificial intelligence revolution.
The software has been developed since 2010 and is compatible for use in all experimental sciences, from neuroscience
to chemistry, in addition to industrial applications. Evidence of its success can be found in its 1,400 contributors
worldwide, the 42 million visits it had in 2018 and the consortium of user companies set up to fund
its development through Inria’s Foundation.
Fabrizio De Vico Fallani
ERC Consolidator Grant
Fabrizio De Vico Fallani,, researcher at the Inria Paris research centre within the
Aramis project team, a joint venture between Inria, ICM, Sorbonne Université, INSERM
and CNRS, is focused on improving brain-computer interfaces. His aim is to develop
a new rehabilitation system capable of modifying functional connections in the brains
of stroke victims.
Etienne Mémin
ERC Synergy Grant
Head of the Fluminence project team, a joint team between Inria, INRAE, the University of
Rennes 1 and CNRS, within the Inria Rennes Bretagne Atlantique research centre, Etienne
Mémin’s goal is to develop models for forecasting the state of the earth’s oceans in the context
of global warming. The aim of her project is to design models that are both dynamic and
stochastic in order to predict changes to the upper ocean in terms of temperature, water level,
acidity and CO2/O2 concentration.
Marie Kerjean
L’Oréal - UNESCO Award
Within the Gallinette project team, created between Inria, the University of Nantes and
the Institut Mines-Télécom Atlantique, Marie Kerjean’s work involves adapting the Coq
proof assistant for use in functional analysis, her aim being to open up new applications
in the field of mathematics, but also to develop new uses for proof assistants in industry,
in addition to developing libraries that the wider public are able to access and to use.
09

10. Emilie Chouzenoux
ERC Starting Grant
Scanners, MRI and microscopy all supply doctors with vital information
on our health, but the resolution and the contrast on the images could be
improved. Researcher of the Opis project team of the Inria
Saclay-Île-de-France research centre, Emilie Chouzenoux developes
optimisation algorithms for use in image processing that will be capable
of reliably producing better quality images at a lower cost.
Irene Vignon-Clementel
ERC Consolidator Grant
Irene Vignon-Clementel, researcher at the Inria Paris research centre in a joint project
between Inria, Sorbonne Université and CNRS is a specialist in digital simulation.
She has set herself the task of designing a simulator capable of anticipating changes in
blood flow in patients before operations. Her work focuses on whole organs, but also
on their different parts and at different levels, including at a microscopic level, as they
interact with the rest of the circulatory system.
Floriane Gidel
L’Oréal - UNESCO Award
Floriane Gidel, researcher in the Monc project team between Inria, CNRS and
the Bordeaux Polytechnic Institute, works on developing digital models capable
of simulating the effects of protocols combining short electrical impulses and
chemotherapy. This form of treatment, which is known as electroporation or
electropermeabilisation, uses electricity in order to make cancerous cells porous
to medication. Although limited for the time being to the treatment of surface
tumours, these protocols could in the future be used to tackle tumours currently
considered as being incurable.
10

11. 11
The arrival of the quantum computer
will be a total game-changer in the
world of cryptography, as it will
make it possible to solve
mathematical problems that are
currently unsolvable using traditional
computers - problems on which
the security of many encryption
algorithms is based.
The risk was judged sufficiently
serious for the NIST (the American
National Institute of Standards
and Technology) to launch an
international competition in 2017
aimed at standardising cryptographic
algorithms capable of resisting
quantum computers.
Inria was involved in 17% of the 69
submissions validated by the NIST.
Following a selection made in early
2019, the percentage of projects still
in competition in which Inria project
teams (Aric, Secret, Polsys, Grace)
are involved has risen to 27%. Such
a remarkable performance can be
attributed to a vast array of methods:
code theory, Euclidean networks,
multivariate polynomial systems,
isogenies of elliptic curves, etc.
These propositions are currently being
critically analysed by the international
cryptography community.
The standardisation initiative is
expected to come to an end in 2022.
Post-quantum
cryptography
When it comes to building a quantum
computer, one of the main
obstacles is the fragility of quantum
information: as it interacts with
the environment, the result is
decoherence, which can render
qubits unusable.
As such, developing a quantum
computer will involve finding a way of
protecting these physical qubits from
noise in order to make them logical
qubits. By drawing on multidisciplinary
teams with expertise in mathematics
and IT, Inria is tackling this question
on a number of fronts, whether with
quantum low-density parity-check
codes or, on a very different note, with
the concept of the “cat qubit”.
The concept behind the “cat qubit”
is to significantly reduce one of the
error components by introducing
quantum dissipation directly into the
superconducting circuit implementing
the qubit. Combining this approach
with a simple error-correcting code
makes it possible to design a universal
set of logical operations protected
from noise(1)
with a reasonable number
of physical qubits. These results have
been produced over the past few years
within the QUANTIC project team lead
by Mazyar Mirrahimi, in collaboration
with experimental physicists.
In 2019, in a soon-to-be-published
paper(2)
, they provided experimental
proof thatthis approach was capable of
reducing errors by a factor of 300.
This could make it possible to
drastically reduce the number of
physical qubits needed to make a
logical qubit.
One step closer
to the quantum computer
(1) J. Guillaud and M. Mirrahimi, Repetition cat-qubits for fault-tolerant quantum computation, Physical Review X, 9, 041053, December 2019.
(2) Exponential suppression of bit-flips in a qubit encoded in an oscillator, R. Lescanne, M. Villiers, T. Peronnin, A. Sarlette, M. Delbecq, B. Huard,
T. Kontos, M .Mirrahimi, Z. Leghtas, ArXiv.1907.11729.

12. By giving them the opportunity to meet
scientists, it is hoped that this national
operation will give pupils a taste for science
in general and digital science in particular,
providing an attractive and educational
illustration of research in this field and the
impact it has on society. All pupils, both
boys and girls, will find out more about
the opportunities available in the sciences,
particularly in the digital sector. Particular
attention will be paid to disadvantaged areas
in order to reach all pupils at the same school
level across the country.
This year, 560,000 5th
-year of secondary school pupils in France will discover
digital science through the new Digital Science and Technology (SNT) course.
In order to support this major undertaking, part of a wider initiative aimed
at introducing everyone to digital science, Inria and its partners launched a
challenge: to meet every 5th
-year class in France.
There are a number of benefits to this project:
MAKING young people want to find out more about digital as a
science and highlighting IT and digital science (NSI) as an option for
sixth-year and final-year pupils.
SUPPORTING THE INVOLVEMENT of girls in the digital sector.
PROMOTING THE INVESTMENT of researchers in their scientific
outreach assignments.
HIGHLIGHTING EXCHANGES between education and research.
1 scientist - 1 class, chiche !
The Class’Code project, which is led
by Inria and funded by La Caisse des
Dépôts, and which has more than
70 partners, has so far been used to
train more than 80,000 education
professionals, helping them to
introduce boys and girls to IT and
digital concepts.
This innovative training programme
started out with 5 online modules
(MOOCs) combined with opportunities
for learners to meet each other.
Thanks to its dynamism, figures
from the worlds of academia and
industry, as well as from schools and
extra-curricular fields, get to work
together on these subjects. Now a
benchmark, the project has helped
create new resources, in addition to
facilitating international collaboration
and expanding the target audience.
More than 430,000 individual users
have turned to the resources available
on pixees.fr and classcode.fr, with a
national network formed by all of the
partners implementing hybrid training
courses and sharing practices.
The project has won a number of
awards, including at European level
where it was awarded the prize for
“best educational tool” by Informatics
Europe, and the 2019 Inria Research
and Innovation Support Prize.
It was also behind the set-up of a
Unesco chair. Its digital science and
technology MOOC was chosen by the
DGESCO as the introductory training
course for secondary school teachers.
It has been used to develop research
initiatives between digital science and
education sciences. Class’Code is now
a nonprofit association supported
by Inria. Its new projects include a
training course on AI.
12

13. 2019 was a very productive year for Inria, which has set its new strategy for 2023.
At the centre of this plan is the priority given to impact in all its forms, and in
particular the economic impact, for which we have set four main priorities: the
creation of technology startups, joint agreements with French industrial partners,
dissemination and training of open source software, and the economic impact
of our international actions.
INNOVATION
François Cuny
Deputy CEO for Innovation
13
perspective. We are very proud to have concluded a
partnership with Naval Group that should soon lead to
the first creation of a common project team.
The human resources to support open source software
consortia have been strongly strengthened through the
InriaSoft initiative. Among these open source software,
we are very proud to mention that scikit-learn was
awarded by the Inria - Académie des sciences innovation
Award in 2019.
This software gathers a set of Python functions allowing
to easily tackle statistical learning problems. Among
the open source machine learning softwares, scikit-learn
is in third position in terms of number of downloads just
behind two solution from Google.
Inria Chile has validate with CORFO (the Chilean Bpi) its
action plan to begin its third phase of existence.
This ambitious plan focuses on strengthening
relationships with Chilean universities, training on Inria's
open source softwares for industrial uses and support
for startups creation.
It was also a very important year concerning our
strategy to support the creation of startups.
The Institute has the objective to multiply by 10 the
number of startup projects that it will support each
year by 2023. A strategic partnership was signed with
Bpifrance (French Public Bank for Investments) to
support this ambition. Inria has been retained as one
of the business contributors in the French Tech Seed
process (Bpifrance's leverage mechanism for the capital
financing of Deep Tech startups). In addition,
a Startup Studio has been created to support this
strategy. This year has already enabled us to multiply by
2.5 the number of supported projects, from around ten
to more than 25, and this will continue in 2020, which
will probably see this number double again.
In 2019 Inria also strongly strengthened its links
with major French companies in strategic areas such
as Defense. We offer to our industrial partners new
possibilities to work closely with our project teams
through the creation of common teams mixing
academic and industrial researchers. We are actually
discussing with many of major French groups in this

14. Inria
Startup Studio
a global entrepreneurship
development scheme
Created in September 2019, the
Startup Studio is already supporting
sponsors of digital deep tech startup
projects. The Institute, which has
already supported the emergence of
almost 200 companies that originated
in its laboratories in the last 30 years,
now wishes to move up a gear.
A 360° scheme
The running of this new scheme has
been entrusted to Sophie Pellat and
Hervé Lebret, two great connoisseurs
of startup culture who have long been
involved in supporting entrepreneurs
with innovative projects. This
programme is a core element of Inria's
With the creation of the Inria
Startup Studio in 2019, the
Institute is intensifying its
policy of supporting startup
creation. This original new
scheme, which focuses on the
entrepreneur and not just the
technology, is run by technology
entrepreneurship professionals
and aims to support innovative
deep tech entrepreneurial
projects.
strategy for achieving its priority
targets in terms of impact. It involves
technology transfer and innovation
specialists in the Inria centres and
in regional ecosystems. The Startup
Studio is one of the concrete offshoots
of the partnership Inria entered into
with Bpifrance in July 2019 within
the wider framework of Bpifrance's
Deeptech plan launched at the
beginning of 2019.
One of the main objectives of the
scheme is to attract entrepreneurial
talent to Inria and its partners. It is a
way of enriching an expertise-centric
approach to opportunities for creating
startups. The support offered is then
focused on the project sponsors.
The scheme aims to raise researchers'
awareness of entrepreneurship and
support them in all the dimensions
it involves: defining needs in terms
of resources (human, financial and
material), meeting investors, listening
to users' needs, positioning the
product on its market, etc. From
the initial idea to the concrete
implementation of the project, we
support them through all the key
stages of the process, explains
Hervé Lebret.
Support
100 projects a year
by 2023
14
With the Startup Studio,
we are a presence alongside
scientists who have made up their
minds to give it a go, and our
aim is to place them in the
conditions most likely to foster
success. We are living at a time that
is very favourable to the creation
of startups: the potential is
there to make Inria's objective –
sponsoring 100 projects a year
by 2023 – a reality!
Sophie Pellat.

15. 15
Startup
Wattson Elements
Over the last few years, marinas have
changed completely. More and more
people are no longer buying their
boats outright, preferring rental
solutions or co-ownership, or they are
using their boats as homes they can
rent out through digital platforms.
The upshot is that ports need to
develop an offering that suits multiple
types of customers and usages, if
they are to have any hope of staying
in control and even gaining some
advantage from all these changes.
A multi-functional
tool
Based on the use of sensors designed
with by researchers at Inria Paris
centre, the Falco system developed by
this startup can remotely scan a whole
range of parameters. Once fitted
onto docks, these wireless boxes are
capable, for example, of measuring the
electricity consumption of each boat.
Other types of sensors installed on
the boat can simultaneously alert the
harbour master's office and the boat's
Wattson Elements is a startup that offers a technology capable of remotely monitoring
berths and boats in a marina. The aim of the solution, named Falco, is to improve the
management and security of port infrastructures whilst facilitating the development of
new services for pleasure sailors.
owner if incidents occur.
Falco offers several types of alarm in a
single device: intrusion, fire, excessive
ship list, mooring problems. The
owner remains in permanent contact
with their boat via a smartphone
app. And for marina managers, Falco
allows for real-time monitoring of the
comings and goings of different boats,
opening up possibilities for better
management of berth availability.
Strong growth
potential
From next summer, several harbours
with 500 berths or more will be
equipped with the sensors needed
for dynamic occupancy management
and enhanced boat security. In the
few months after that, the port of
Kernével in Brittany, which has almost
a thousand berths, should also be
connected. With 180 marinas and no
less than 160,000 berths available,
the French coast offers a promising
market for the startup which has
already started international outreach.
With 180 marinas and no less
than 160,000 berths available, the
French coast offers a promising
market for the startup.
The project was selected by the
Innovation department and has
benefited from the Inria programme
that provides startup creation projects
with end-to-end support.
The founders have thus been supported
by the Transfer, Partnerships and
Innovation department at the Inria
Paris centre as part of its plan to back
entrepreneurial projects. The project
has also benefited from funding
and business accommodation in the
dedicated startup space at the Paris
centre. Since then the Inria spin-off has
begun to secure its first contracts and
has plans to raise capital in the second
half of 2020 to pursue its development.

16. 16
Naval Group, the European leader in
the naval defence industry specialised
in the design, construction and
maintenance of submarines and
surface ships, wishes to step up its
innovation efforts. To accompany this
strategy, the firm is joining forces
with Inria in an ambitious research
partnership.
Contributing to the operational
superiority of military ships
As it faces increasingly stiff
international competition, Naval
Group must also respond to the
ever-growing need for technological
superiority in combat of the ships
it builds for the French Navy and
its international customers. The
partnership with Inria will enable it to
ramp up its efforts in innovation, in
particular in the field of information
systems.
Omnipresent in the design of military
ships and strategically important in
operations, software plays a core role
With the partnership agreement signed at the end of 2019 with the European leader in the
naval defence industry, Inria continues to support the French industrial ecosystem. The creation
of joint project teams will stimulate innovation and strengthen the company in the area of
information systems.
in competitiveness and performance
in the naval defence industry. The
submarine combat system, one of the
most complex objects ever designed,
relies on hundreds of thousands of
lines of code.
Accompanying public
sovereignty policies
In order to meet the needs of the
naval defence sector, the partnership
is targeting three scientific themes:
artificial intelligence, cybersecurity
and signal processing. The Institute
will bring its scientific excellence in
these three fields - and that of its
partners - to the industrial firm.
Synonymous with a high level of
collective momentum, this
cooperation is perceived as extremely
rewarding. Based on strong governance,
the partnership will be implemented
in the form of joint project teams. The
first one is expected to be based at
Ollioules (Var), where a part of Naval
Group's research centre is located
as well as its teams specialising in
the design of mission and combat
systems.
Inria wanted to boost its
partnership development policy,
and signing this agreement
with Naval Group illustrates its
willingness to support public
sovereignty policies. An approach
that is right at the heart of the
Institute's strategy.
Naval Group/Inria:
a strategic partnership for the
defence industry

17. OUR ETHICS
Guillaume Prunier
Deputy CEO for Administration
Performance Contract). To ensure that we progress towards
operational excellence, in 2019 we have also appointed a
secretary general in each centre. As the right-hand man or
woman of the Centre Director, they are the guarantor of the
smooth running of the centre's services, along with the head
of services' team. Finally, the first results came through in
2019 on the operation of our expenditure chain: thanks to the
involvement of all our staff at every level of the organisation,
our average payment time has been reduced by 25%, in spite
of a 6% increase in the number of invoices!
Inria is an institute that is gearing up for its digital
transformation, a transformation that is indispensable if
we are to achieve operational excellence. And of course it
rests on the quality of our operating software. In 2019, we
took the plunge and set up a single Information Systems
Department (DSI). Collectively, we have managed to accept
the need to move forward in an agile way. This courage has
been rewarded: there has been no drop in quality of service,
and we can all be proud of that. Some adjustments remain
to be made to improve efficiency, but as of now we are up
and running..
All these results have been achieved thanks to people's
individual and collective efforts and are contributing to our
strategic objective of building an efficient, smooth-running
organisational structure. 2019 has been a good vintage!
Inria is an institute that places human beings at the
centre of all. In 2019, we collectively reasserted that
position. In our strategic plan: by clearly making priorities
of the improvement of the percentage of disabled
employees, the number of women in charge of project
teams and quality of life at work for everyone. In our
actions: by adopting and starting to implement the
Train, Prevent, Support plan and an ambitious Disability
programme, and by initiating a process of reflection on
some ambitious building projects.
Inria is a responsible institute. On the budget front, our
joint efforts have enabled us to go from a provisional
budget showing a deficit to a surplus in the actual figures.
2019 will also have been the year when we implemented
a real personal data protection policy: 155 data processing
operations, including 82 research projects, were provided
with support to bring them into line with the GDPR. In
2019, we also fulfilled our responsibilities in terms of the
protection of the Nation's scientific and technical potential,
with the introduction of a data sensitivity scale. Finally,
in 2019 we reinvested in our legal security, in particular
by creating a genuine Legal Affairs Department, and by
embarking on the reshaping of our purchasing policy.
Inria is an institute whose goal is operational excellence,
to guarantee the level of service rendered to research and
innovation. In 2019, we embarked on the management of
the Institute through figures: if you can't measure it, you
can't improve it! The observatory of activities is undergoing
an in-depth overhaul and is destined to be our sole source
of truthful figures. In 2020, we will have dashboards at
our disposal to help us to manage our activities in order
to achieve the objectives of the COP (Objectives and
17
Making a commitment, engaging in meaningful
activities, asserting our values
Length of instruction of Project teams
Procedure after
January 1, 2019
2018
2017
Months
PTeams
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40

18. 18
In May 2019, Inria was awarded the HR Excellence in Research label for its action plan
implementing the European Human Resources Strategy for Researchers. The aim of this strategy,
known as HRS4R, is to perfect recruitment practices and the working conditions of scientists.
A European label
in HR strategy
The label is therefore awarded in
recognition of the process of
continuous improvement applied to
Inria's HR policy, which consists of
38 separate projects covering several
On 19 November 2019, Inria
announced the creation of an action
plan consisting of three pillars and
tied in with the COP (Objectives and
Performance Contract) 2019-2023.
1 Reinforcing societal
impact through research and
innovation
Today, 25 of the Institute's project
teams are working in one way or
another on disability. The action plan
includes several components, among
them the launch, at the beginning of
2020, of a major challenge combining
research, development and technology
themes: professional and ethical
responsibilities, recruitment
and selection; working conditions and
social policy, training and guidance.
To reinforce the Institute's scientific
potential and increase its attractivity,
Inria will be focusing on three
priorities:
Continuing existing initiatives
and best practices in line with the
principles of the European Charter for
Researchers and Code of Conduct for
the Recruitment of Researchers;
transfer. Just one of the experiments
in preparation that is worthy of
mention: the hosting of young
people on the autism spectrum on
placements in research laboratories
in order to develop a programme of
generic integration into HER.
2 Supporting public policy on
digital accessibility
Inria will also be improving the
accessibility of its web content, by
applying the WCAG (Web Content
Accessibility Guidelines) to all future
Inria communication items, including
the website and intranet, and
scheduling the adaptation of Inria's
Improving the dissemination of
information on recruitment processes
and career development;
Working on all the aspects that can
help to improve attractiveness:
training, development, quality of life at
work and career monitoring.
In 2021, Inria will carry out a self-
assessment midway through its action
plan, which will be submitted to the
European Union. The following year, an
audit will be carried out for therenewal
of its label.
internal software programs for visually
impaired users.
3 Becoming an exemplary
employer
In spite of different awareness-raising
actions, the percentage of disabled
people employed at Inria remains
far too low: 2% in 2019, whereas the
legal requirement is 6%(1)
. Proactive
policies are therefore going to
be implemented, with the aim, in
particular, of increasing the number
of applications and candidates and
doing more to adapt the working
environment.
(1) Achieving this rate of 6% is one of the objectives of Inria's new Objectives and Performance Contract.
Internal mobilisation, external action: the ambitions of the Disability programme

19. Based on principles of transparency
and ethics, the Inria Foundation will
prioritise meaningful strategic ap-
proaches, be they related to the causes
supported by the Institute (digital
technology to help the disabled,
making science and technology more
attractive to young people, particularly
Because digital technology has an impact on all aspects of society and daily life, a research
institute like Inria, lying as it does at the heart of digital science and technology, must be more
able than ever to work on new themes and to use new methods. Above all, it must continue to
dare to explore and prepare for projects that are off the beaten track.
women, the digital transformation of
lifelong education, the development of
open source software as an infrastruc-
ture for innovation, etc.) or to taking
part in the resolution, by the use of
an interdisciplinary approach, of our
society’s great challenges (digital risks
and opportunities related to sustai-
nable development, digital transfor-
mation of towns and mobility, the
trustworthy digital society, etc.).
Human beings are central to each of
these strategic aims because digital
technology can only be a means of
strengthening the development of our
societies.
The Inria Foundation will help to
finance the emergence of new projects
to help meet these strategic aims,
be it through research, spreading
knowledge throughout society or
entrepreneurial initiatives backed by
public research.
Over the period 2019-2023,
the Foundation's ambition is
75 million, thus raising
of sponsorship funds for
Making sense of the digital.
To fulfil this objective, the Foundation’s
missions are:
TO SUPPORT AUDACITY AND RISK-TAKING through ambitious research,
innovation and entrepreneurial projects.
TO ENCOURAGE TALENTED YOUNG PEOPLE AND HELP THEM
TO DEVELOP VOCATIONS through training by research and by supporting
young researchers whatever their academic pathways and aspirations.
TO ELICIT AND ACCOMPANY RESEARCH TOPICS AND INNOVATIONS
that will revolutionise and support the digital transformation of society,
often by encouraging an interdisciplinary approach.
TO DEFEND, THROUGH RESEARCH AND INNOVATION, the causes
supported by Inria that require long-term investment and the neutrality
of a public research institute.
19
La Fondation
Making sense of the digital

20. 20
ANNUAL BUDGET REPORT FOR THE 2019 FINANCIAL YEAR
Inria's initial budget for 2019, adopted in November 2018, stood at
€239.8m for revenue and expenditure, but was reduced to €237.2m
in the last amending budget passed in November 2019.
Regarding execution of the 2019 budget in terms of revenue, the
Subsidy for Public Service Expenses (SCSP) stands at €176.6m
compared to €172.1m in 2018 and €170.6m in 2017. It represents
75% of the revenues received for the 2019 financial year.
Own resources amounted to about €59.9m, i.e. an execution rate
of 94% compared to the amounts posted in the last amending
budget. They account for 25% of all the Institute's resources in
2019. Own resources mainly come from:
Total revenue was €236m in 2019, representing an execution rate
of 98.4% compared to the amending budget.
By nature, expenditure breaks down as follows: €168.7m of payroll
costs (74.1% of total expenditure), including €133.6m for the
Restrictive Wage Bill and €35.1m for the Non-Restrictive Wage Bill.
The number of under the ceiling staff (i.e. those whose pay
is based on the SCSP) reached 1605 full-time equivalent hours
worked (FTEHW) compared to 1,616 in 2018 and 1,579 in 2017 and
for 1,615 forecast in the 2019 initial budget. The number of non-
ceiling staff (i.e. those whose pay is based on own resources) was
766 FTEHW compared to 730 in 2018 and 729 in 2017.
€49.2m for non-scheduled investment and operating costs (FCI);
€9.7m in expenditure related to scheduled investment
transactions (OIP).
Overall expenditure in 2019 amounted to €227.7m compared to an
initial forecast of €239.8m, representing an execution rate of 94.9%.
By purpose, expenditure in 2019 included:
l €157.1m on scientific activities at the research centres (item 1) i.e.
69% of total expenditure in 2019;
l €25.3m on joint research activity (item 2), i.e. 11%;
l €45.2m on support functions (item 3), i.e. 20%;
The table below shows the scientific themes corresponding to the
Institute's main objectives, taking into account all the expenses,
regardless of funding source and all items combined.
CERTIFICATION OF THE FINANCIAL ACCOUNTS
As has been the case since 2010, the 2019 accounts have been
certified by two statutory auditors. The auditors have reiterated
the reservation previously formulated relating to the physical
inventory and the monitoring of fixed assets, but for the 2019
financial year they have withdrawn the reservation previously
issued concerning the cut-off mechanism in connection with the
identification of the trade payables.
The 2019 financial account shows a profit of €3.3m (compared to a
profit of + €0.5m the previous year).
This evolution is due to several factors, mainly:
l an increase in subsidies and similar income (+€5.1m), which is
explained, firstly, by the growth in the subsidy for public service
expenses (+€2.3m), and secondly, by that in other operating
subsidies (+€3.1m);
l the fall in direct income from activity (-€3.0m), corresponding
in particular to income from contracts with private-sector
partners);
l the increase in other income (write-backs on depreciation and
provisions), namely +€3.5m, which is mainly accounted for by
the write-back of the €4.6m provision for the dispute with the
ERCEA;
l the increase in personnel costs of (+€1.7m);
l as well that in the appropriation to depreciation and provisions
(+€2.1m).
The balance sheet total (assets and liabilities) amounts to €260.4m
compared to €257.8m in 2018..
Financial Report
TEAM EXPENDITURE PER THEME €M 119,7
Applied Mathematics, Computing and Simulation 18,9
Algorithms, Programming, Software and Architectures 26,5
Networks, Systems and Services, Distributed Calculation 20,3
Perception, Cognition and Interaction 29,9
Healthcare, Biology and Digital Planet 24,1
*Including: €12.8m from the ANR, €10.4m from other public partners,
€5.6m from the European Commission and €3.8m from private partners.
Research contracts with third
parties in the private or public
sectors
*Research project
and programme subsidies
Product sales:
publications, conferences, etc.
Financial transactions related
to fixed assets
Sources
of Inria's own
ressources
in M€43,8
8,8
3,2
0,9

21. 21
Amount
(in euros)
2019
Amount
(in euros)
2018
Variation
2019 / 2018
%ITEM
Subsidy for public service expenses 174 423 464 172 132 749 1,3%
Operating subsidies granted by the State and other public entities 37 054 439 33 912 234 9,3%
Subsidies allocated to funding maintenance costs - - -
Donations and bequests 212 415 508 706 -58,2%
Allocated tax income - - -
SUBSIDIES AND SIMILAR INCOME 211 690 318 206 553 689 2,5%
Sales of goods or services 12 750 354 14 440 560 -11,7%
Income from the sale of assets 40 140 29 731 35,0%
Other management income 744 205 2 089 954 -64,4%
Inventory and self-constructed assets - - -
Income earned for provision of a public service - - -
DIRECT INCOME FROM ACTIVITY 13 534 699 16 560 245 -18,3%
Write-backs on depreciation and provisions 19 467 589 15 251 013 27,6%
Write-backs of asset-related funds 5 431 798 6 192 438 -12,3%
OTHER INCOME 24 899 387 21 443 451 16,1%
OPERATING INCOME 250 124 404 244 557 385 2,3%
Purchases 104 987 119 741 -12,3%
Use of goods and supplies, works and services 38 330 700 38 053 394 0,7%
Payroll costs 157 556 188 155 822 975 1,1%
Other operating costs (incl. losses/write-offs) 19 160 596 19 670 196 -2,6%
Depreciation and provisions, Net accounting value of assets disposed of 31 540 844 29 469 555 7,0%
OPERATING COSTS 246 693 315 243 135 861 1,5%
NET INCOME (OR LOSS) FROM ACTIVITY 3 431 089 1 421 524 141,4%
INCOME STATEMENT 1/2

22. 22
Amount
(in euros)
2019
Amount
(in euros)
2018
Variation
2019 / 2018
%ITEM
Income from shares and loans - - -
Net income from sale of financial assets - - -
Interest on non-capital receivables - - -
Income from short-term investments and cash - - -
Income from sales of short-term investments - - -
Foreign exchange gains 7 957 10 666 -25,4%
Other financial income - 39 808 -100,0%
Write-backs on depreciation and provisions 48 410 - -
FINANCIAL INCOME 56 367 50 474 11,7%
Interest - - -
Net loss on disposal of securities - - -
Foreign exchange losses 9 552 20 862 -54,2%
Other financial costs - - -
Depreciation and provisions for financial costs 166 053 - -
FINANCIAL COSTS 175 605 20 862 741,7%
NET FINANCIAL INCOME (OR LOSS) 119 238 29 612 -502,7%
Corporate tax - -
FISCAL YEAR PROFIT OR LOSS 3 311 851 1 451 136 128,2%
INCOME STATEMENT 2/2

23. Editor in chief: Bruno Sportisse
Editorial Manager: Ariane Beauvillard
Graphic Manager: Sophie Barbier
Graphic Design and cover illustration: Philippe Aran
Photos Credits: © Inria / Pierre Morel p. 3, 7, 13, 17; © Inria / M. Magnin p. 8 (top);
© Inria / G. Scagnelli p. 8, 9, 10 (back); © Inria / C. Morel p. 9 (top); J-C. Caslot p. 9 (back);
© Inria / SCM Bordeaux p. 10 (top); © Inria / M. Quet p. 10

24. inria.fr/en